Secret of NIMH: At the Beginning
by Danica Loy
Summary: She was a field mouse who wanted nothing more than to have a family and to find true love. Isn't that what every little girl dreams of? Little does she know, the key to finding such happiness lies with a young rogue mouse and neither realize that they are fated to save each other. But can love survive even when they are from two different worlds? rating will go up future chapter


Secret of Nimh: At the Beginning

Before Timothy met Jenny and saved the rats from Nimh, before Mrs Brisby helped the rats, and even before she and Jonathan had ever met, there was a young mouse named Phoebe. She was a field mouse who wanted nothing more than to have a family and to find true love. Isn't that what every little girl dreams of? Little does she know, the key to finding such happiness lies with a young rogue mouse and neither realize that they are fated to save each other. But can love survive even when they are from two different worlds?

Chapter 1:

A small brunette mouse hugged her red cloak tightly around her shoulders. It was so big on the child's small body as it dragged across the ground under. The girl shivered as fresh tears flowed from her light blue eyes. It was moving day in the field. She was too young to understand, and she naively chose to play outside. To a child, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining bright and she finally got up the courage to make friends with the neighborhood quail children. Little did she know, her mother and father tried to find her, what they didn't know was that she was nowhere near the plow, and now she was alone in the world.

She sat at the river's edge, huddled into a small ball, trying in vain to fight back her onslaught of tears. She wished with all her heart to have her family back. Her tears fell down into the stream beneath her as she sat on the edge of a giant hollow log. The ripples danced across the water's surface as the tear touched it.

 _Phoebe!_

The faint cry made her tears fall much faster. Her memories flooded with images of her mother and father. She wanted to run to them. She wanted to be in their arms again, feeling them warmth, hearing their laughter.

 _Phoebe…!_

She couldn't forget them. She wanted to join them so much. And, why not, there was nothing left to hold onto right now. Staring at the sunset in the distance, the light reflected against the blurred brown eyes, the young mouse, with her pink nose and whiskers twitching, stood on the edge of the log. She didn't care that the water flowed beneath her. All Phoebe saw was the beautiful sunset in the distance and wanting to reach it and not caring how she got there. All she saw was her family, once again happy and full of love.

"Phoebe!"

A pair of paws wrapped around the young mouse girl and pulled her backward. The two mice stumbled and rolled against the log and slid down it. The other mouse held the younger mouse close. They both cried out in terror. After a deafening thud and Phoebe, atop the crunching of brown leaves and sharp blades of grass, she felt herself trembling. She closed her eyes afraid of what she would find. It wasn't until she identified and sighed in relief at the familiar voice underneath.

"My dear girl, what were you doing? I have been looking everywhere for you."

Phoebe gasped and realized whom she was sitting on. She scrambled off the older mouse. "Auntie Shrew! I'm so sorry. Did you need something?"

Auntie Shrew was not related to young Phoebe directly, but she did help raise the young mouse girl, helping her mother while her father provided food and shelter. Phoebe was very grateful to the elder mouse. She not only looked after Phoebe's family but all of the families living in the field. The young field mouse often wished she could be as brave as Auntie.

A month had passed the plow had come through the field, and the families who lived there once again returned to their normal routine lives. They were at least able to poke their heads from their burrows again. All the while during the plow, all of their possessions were thrown around and overturned. This was normal as it happened every year but it was still devastating to some who spent so much time collecting valuable items, especially the shiny things.

Phoebe was among those whom had homes broken and overturned. Though she yearned to go outside and have fun adventures, her mother's teachings echoed in her head and she mirrored the older mouse's movements as she cleaned up her home, sweeping the floor and rugs, setting the beds up right, washing away all the terrible memories that came with the destruction. It was her duty, as the last member of her family now, to protect her home.

Auntie Shrew knocked on the door to Phoebe's home just as the young mouse put away her white feather broom. She collapsed on a chair, exhausted from the day of cleaning.

"Oh my child. Did you clean this entire burrow by yourself?"

Phoebe could do nothing but nod weakly. Her whole body was sore. "This is my home Auntie Shrew. I can't just abandon it. If I don't clean it; who will?" She gave a small smile. "what is that?" The young mouse caught sight of some big bulging cloth in Auntie Shrew's claws.

Shrew answered with a knowing smile of her own. "I figured you would be tired, little one. So I made some cheese biscuits for you."

Phoebe tried to resist, shaking her head, but Shrew could see the hesitation in her innocent brown eyes. "I know these are your favorite." Shrew added tantalizingly setting the table directly in front of Phoebe.

"Thank you but I don't have anything to give you in return." Phoebe was visibly shaking.

"Kindness doesn't expect anything in return. I wish to give them, so I will give them. Besides it is considered rude to turn down a gift." The elder mouse crossed her arms, pretending to chastise the impressionable girl.

Phoebe's eyes widened, and quickly reached out and grabbed the basket and held it close to her chest. Her trembling increased. "Th-thank you, Auntie Shrew…"

Shrew smiled, "I knew you were just like your mother. Thank god, you did not receive any of the disrespectful traits of that ungrateful father of yours.

Phoebe looked down at the basket. Not wanting to really think of her beloved father and mother, as it only brought new tears of sadness, she took an experimental bite. Her eyes widened in surprise as something sparked a distant memory. She asked about the biscuits. "Auntie Shrew, the cheese for these biscuits, where did you get them. I thought you said you were out last time mother, you and I made them together."

Shrew simply huffed nonchalantly, and turned on her left heel. "Simple, I went and picked up some more. It was no big deal. I may be getting old, but I still can move with the best critters."

"Y-you went to the farmhouse?" Phoebe cried out, standing from her chair. "what about the farmer and Dragon? You did all that just for some cheese?! Why? You shouldn't risk your own life like that!"

Phoebe was silenced as Shrew sharply threw up her walking cane and pointed directly between her eyes. "Remember this little one. One will and can do anything for the ones they love. Your parents understood that. I only hope you will one day understand that as well." With that Shrew turned away sharply and moved toward the door. "I will take my leave now, it's getting late."

Phoebe still stood frozen in the middle of the main room. She could see Auntie Shrew albeit proudly hobbled out of the burrow, leaving her alone again with only the basket of food. Auntie Shrew had risked her safety and put herself in peril. Her father always taught her be respectful and honor someone's sacrifice. With her mind made up, she took her red cloak from her trunk at the foot of her bed and set up on top along with her dull green shoulder bag. She was going to return Auntie Shrew's kindness and honorable deed. That night she fell asleep, recovering and mentally preparing for the events that would come tomorrow morning.

It was still cold early in the morning. The sun had barely peeked above the distant horizon far in the east. Phoebe hugged her mother's red cloak around her shoulders. She draped the hood over head as she stepped from her burrow home. No one else was awake in the field. No one was around to notice her dash across the field. She stopped to catch her breath as she passed under the giant wooden fence posts that separated the field from the farmhouse. She had never gone this far from her home before. Her father always warned her of the dangers if she ever crossed the posts and neared the farmhouse. He told her bedtime stories of Dragon, the old cat who lived there. It was a monster that would never hesitate to eat a dozen mice in one gulp.

From the top of the hill, Phoebe could see the dimly lit windows of the farmhouse. Phoebe's heart was pounding so fast. She was so scared. Her paws were shaking as she clutched her cloak closer to her body as a cool, crisp morning breeze blew through the field. It rustled her soft fur like a comforting embrace. Phoebe could feel her parents love giving her courage through it. She firmly believed they were watching over her even in death.

With courage filling her up, Phoebe rushed down the hill toward the farmhouse as fast as she could. She paused to catch her breath as she reached a long brick wall. A tall red stone wall, too high for one mouse to climb over, protected the farmer's garden. An animal like a bird or cat could easily climb over it, but Phoebe knew another way, a small hole between the bricks was only a few feet away. Her father often told her stories of a beautiful garden full of red roses, beautiful and fragrant but deadly if one got too close. Phoebe climbed through the small opening between the stones, and soon stood in awe and wonder at the enchanting sight. Flowers of every color of the rainbow covered the small field. It was a like walking through a dream. A narrow dirt path lined each patch of flowers, and there in the center of the garden like a prize trophy was a towering rose bush. Blood red blossoms covered its vines all over as well as hiding its sharp thorns.

Suddenly, a delicious scent wafted passed her nose. It drew her attentions away from the gorgeous sight of the garden and Phoebe race to find the hidden treasure. Just ahead was tall oak tree. Its vibrant leaves rustled in the brisk summer wind. Underneath the rich canopy of green, a stone bench sat nestled against the trunk while a makeshift swing hung down from one of the trees long extended branches. Something glistened from underneath white stone bench as it caught the rays of the sun.

There it was! Phoebe could smell it, a huge block of ripe cheese just sitting on a strange silver tray. In an instant, instinct had taken over and the young naïve mouse rushed atop the silver tray and grabbed at the cheese and took a gnawing bite. Suddenly a loud buzzing rang throughout the area. The siren startled Phoebe and she looked around wondering it could be. Her little paws still gripped the food bits tightly in fear. A flashing red light rose upward from the middle of the silver plate and Phoebe jumped back and started to run but didn't get far as the sides of the plate rose upward as well on all sides entrapping her with the now silver cage. Something dropped into the pit of her stomach and she lost her appetite. She dropped the cheese and started racing the perimeter of the cage, leaping up to grab at the bars, she tried to find a way out. She flew into a panic, panting heavily. She leapt at the bars again trying to squeeze through thinking she might be small enough, but the bars were too closely space.

Just then the cage began to lift into the air. Phoebe struggled to keep her balance. But soon fell back and tumbled with a squeaking cry. She slammed the back of her head hard against the metal cage, and everything quickly became blurred. Colors mixed together. Individual sounds slurred together becoming unrecognizable. The last thing she saw was the large farmhouse drifting farther and farther away, becoming smaller and smaller. Phoebe stretched out her hand trying to grasp the last view of her home. Tears sprang from her eyes as darkness soon overtook her.

To be continued… hopefully soon. I have outlined summaries for the next several chapters, I just need to right them out and add the details to them, but the progress is slow due to working nearly seven days a week. But I want to post this to see what you guys think.

I did not like the sequel to Secret of Nimh at all (except for Eric Idle's performance) but I just felt there were so many questions left unanswered in the first movie that I have decided to make my own Prequel.

I hope Don Bluth doesn't kill me for this…

Signing off.

Danica Loy


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